1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to lifts for raising and lowering watercraft.
2. Description of the Related Art
Covered watercraft lifts provide allow boaters and other recreational watercraft users to conveniently raise and lower watercrafts out of and into water. Prior art watercraft lifts normally require the watercraft user to press a spring-loaded button continuously—sometimes for many minutes at a time—until the proper boat position is ascertained by the user. Using such approaches, the user must either be in close proximity with the start and stop switches, or must have another party operate the “raise” and “lower” switches of the lift. It is desirable to operate such a lift without having to be physically next to the operation switches. It is further desirable to operate such a lift without having to continuously press the operation switches.
Compounding the above problems is the fact that prior art watercraft lifts and lifting systems do not provide a way for automatically lowering a watercraft to the correct height (“down” or “water” position) for actual watercraft use. This is in part caused by natural variations the target water depths. Similar problems exist with respect to automatically positioning watercraft in storage (“up”) positions, and in “loading” positions.